Democratic Representative Brad Sherman has denied claims that he was looking at explicit material during a flight, after a photo of him viewing revealing images on his tablet spread widely on social media. The incident began when a fellow passenger secretly took a picture of the California lawmaker sitting with his iPad, which appeared to show several suggestive photos of women in lingerie, according to a report by The New York Post.
The images were later posted by the X account Dear White Staffers, which accused Sherman of watching inappropriate content in public. The post read, “Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman feel it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight today? His district deserves better representation than this!! #CA32.”
Sherman rejected the claim and said he was not searching for anything inappropriate. His spokesperson said the situation was caused by how X, formerly Twitter, now recommends posts to users. “This was nothing more than scrolling through Twitter, and unfortunately Elon Musk has ruined the Twitter algorithm to give people content that they don’t ask for or subscribe to,” the spokesperson told The New York Post. The office said the photos simply appeared on Sherman’s feed without him seeking them out.
Speaking separately to Punchbowl News, Sherman explained that he was browsing through his “For You” feed to pass time on the long flight. He repeated that he had not intended to view any adult content and said he had no interest in such material. He said he had gone through more than a thousand posts while travelling. “If you have to fly across the country, you look at a lot of stuff on your tablet,” he told the outlet.
He added that if he saw a photo of a woman, he might look at it longer than a picture of a sunset, but insisted that did not mean he was viewing pornography.
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Shivam Verma is a journalist with over three years of experience in digital newsrooms. He currently works at NewsX, having previously worked for Firstpost and DNA India. A postgraduate diploma holder in Integrated Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, Shivam focuses on international affairs, diplomacy, defence, and politics. Beyond the newsroom, he is passionate about football—both playing and watching—and enjoys travelling to explore new places and cuisines.
